A layout I did for the color challenge at Digital Freebies.

Alex and I finally went to see The DaVinci Code. (Hubby and #2 son didn't want to go.) It was --okay. I didn't love the movie and I didn't hate it. I think Alex enjoyed it more than me. It described it as "interesting". Maybe if I hadn't anticipated it so much, I might not have felt so disappointed. I really thought with Ron Howard and Tom Hanks it would be a winner. Alex said the trailers made it seem like it would be more suspenseful and action-packed and it was more of a talking movie. What little action there was turned out to be annoying because it was mostly dark and the camera action jerked around a lot. Like in the car chase through Paris. I loved Sophie's tiny car and thought it would be a great scene but it was hard to see much of it. The Paris car chase from The Bourne Identity is still the greatest.

Anyway, I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. I'm glad I saw it but I'm not planning on running out and buying the dvd when it comes out.

At least it wasn't as bad as Silent Hill. That movie was horrid. I only went because Michael wanted to see it and he's not old enough to get into R-rated. We met one of his friends (accompanied by his dad) at the theater and they both loved it. Raved over it. I thought maybe it was a male thing so I asked the friend's dad what he thought and he laughed and said he thought it was "horribly bad". LOL!!! He said it obviously knew its target audience--teenage boys.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day Weekend. We're thinking of going to Nashville on Monday and stopping in Murfreesboro along the way so Alex can take a look at MTSU (Middle TN State U). It looks like that's where he's going to be going. For a while he had his heart set on Savannah College of Art and Design. Unfortunately, he has horrible, mean parents who won't fork over $120,000+ . I told him he could take out student loans but he said "I don't want to owe that much when I graduate!" Guess what, Alex. I don't want to owe that much when you graduate! Then he found out that a friend of his is going to MTSU (he's known the kid all through high school but they didn't have many classes together so they didn't hang out as much) and they're going to try and room together. So now he's getting excited about it. I'm so glad because while I'm not willing to pay $30,000 a year, I wanted him to be happy about which college he was going to and not just go there because he couldn't go where he wanted. So unless he gets a fantastic scholarship to SCAD; he'll be going to MTSU.

And I'm already planning to move my computer out of the dining room and into his bedroom. I can use his internet line and not have to share with the dh! We have only 4 lines on the router and 5 computers. Yes, I know we have only 4 people in the family but hubby has a laptop. And yes, we've tried wireless but had nothing but problems so we went back to wires.

I'll post pictures if we go to Nashville on Monday.

Here's a layout I did as a RAK Scraps challenge. I had a lot of fun with it and hope to use it as the cover for a Walt Disney World album. We had annual passes from 10/2004 until 10/2005 and went SIX times during that 12 month period. We certainly got our money's worth. I am planning to do a digiscrap album for that year and had that in mind when I made this. Now I just have to start scrapping and fill up an album.

Alex (#1 son) and I went to see MI3 yesterday. It was very entertaining. I probably would have enjoyed it even more if Tom Cruise hadn't been in it but no one was asking me when they cast it! LOL!!! Like my son said you have to look past the fact that he's in the movie and just enjoy it. It's a typical summer action flick. We're still deciding if we're going to go see DaVinci. That's what we had planned on seeing but then the reviews were so bad we saw MI3 instead. After we came out of the movie we ran into a friend of my son and he said he and his parents saw DaVince and they all liked it. So we may go again this week and see it.

Went a few days ago to the annual meeting for my younger son's IEP (individualized education plan). They have another new teacher for next year. At the meeting she was all excited and told me all the wonderful plans she has for next year. Field trips, model United Nations and all sorts of scholarship and career planning sessions, blah, blah, blah. I told her that I've been hearing this every year since 2nd grade. That's when Michael was placed in the gifted program. One, two, sometimes three months into the new school year the whole thing collapses. The teacher leaves for a better job or I ask about all the plans and I get "there isn't any money left in the budget for us". We still haven't found out what happened to last year's teacher. He was there one day and not the next. Someone said they saw him working at Steak & Shake Restaurant. Anyway, she said that it will be different this time. I've heard THAT before too.

Has anyone been to the dullest blog in the world?

My baby (actually he's my oldest but he's still my baby!) is a graduate. We had a great time. The graduation was at 6PM so we went to supper first at one of my favorite places, Carrabbas. Michael didn't really want to go to the graduation but he said going to Carrabbas made it worth going. He even wore one of his dad's dress shirts and his "Masters Jacket". Someone had given him a green sport coat and he looks like he's just won the Masters Golf Tournament when he wears it. Anyway, Carrabbas was fun. Alex had never been there before because he's usually working on Saturday nights when we go. He had mussels and said they were the best he's had. They're cooked in some sort of white wine and garlic sauce that is heavenly to dip your bread in. Alex ate all the mussels but there is always a lot of the sauce left over and hubby said too bad we can;t take it with us. The waiter heard him and said no problem he'd find something to put it in. So now we're all looking forward to dipping some nice warm freshly made bread tomorrow. Guess I'll drag out my bread maker.

Coming home from the graduation, Michael said he has a goal for high school (he's a freshman). He wants to be one of the students up on the stage during the graduation ceremony. It's possible since he's currently ranked 4th in his class. Hubby told him he's got 3 more years to inch his way up closer to #1. Michael said it wouldn't hurt if Mary Rose (currently #1) were to have a "tragic spelling bee accident"! LOL!!! She's been his nemesis (is that how it's spelled?) since the first grade. If he got a 99 on a test--she got 100. Whenever his ego starts getting too big I just say "Mary Rose" and he comes back down to earth! LOL!!!

Well, I'm off to bed. Hope to get some layouts done tomorrow so I can post some!

Today is Alex's day! He's graduating high school this evening. I still can't quite believe it. Here's his first grade picture and I have to say that those days feel like just yesterday. I've been scanning in a lot of pictures of him to do some layouts of some of his milestones. I'm sure I'll be posting those. LOL!! I'll post a picture of him in his cap & gown when I can finally get him out of bed!!

Well, I have to go try some more to get him up. He was still in the shower yesterday when his friend came to pick him up for graduation rehearsal. The only reason he was even that far along was because I came home early and dragged him out of bed. He sleeps like 10-12 hours a day, sits in front of his computer for 8-10 hours and works for 4-5 hours at the mall and then complains he has no life!!! Excuse me?! If we (his loving parents) didn't force him to work he'd have time to do all kinds of things like household chores, explore all the college scholarship possibilities, find a cure for cancer...LOL!!! Poor Alex, getting stuck with parents who have tried to teach him about responsibility and the value of money.

Instead of picking on him here, I need to go get him up and be sure he takes a shower before we have to leave for graduation.

I'm sure I'll be back with grad pics.

I'm editing this because I realized I should have said I used Ronnie McCray's Appalachian Mountains kit for this layout. This is her blog and you can find out there how to buy her kits and read her great blog too!

This is a layout I did for a journaling challenge at RAKScraps. The challenge was to do a layout about something that made you sad. I did it about my childhood home. The journaling reads:

The thought that I can’t go home anymore makes me sad. The little red house on Bowden Street will never again be the gathering spot for our family. Ma isn’t in the kitchen making pies and Dad isn’t in the cellar sitting at his workbench and putterinfg with his tools. The house was never grand but it was home. There’s one thing it always was--red! Every time Ma mentioned painting it a different color, Dad replied, “As long as I’m alive this house will be red.” And it was. Even after he died, the house remained red. When you went home for a holiday, you never knew who you might meet. It seemed like a stranger was always seated at the table. Who is this? we kids would ask. The answer was usually something like, that’s Jim’s mother’s aunt’s daughter’s cousin’s neighbor--he or she didn’t have any place else to go today. By the end of the day, they were no longer strangers and when they went home, it was with enough leftovers for at least one more meal and an invitation to come back again--anytime. And of course they were more than welcome to bring their cousin’s hairdresser with them!

Didn't mean to bring anybody down!

And now for the continuing saga of driver's ed...

I keep telling them that just because the other driver has a red light, stop sign or yield sign doesn't mean that they'll do any of those. And my point was proven this morning. On the way to school there's a spot where two roads merge into one like a Y. We have the right of way and the other street has a yield sign. Thank goodness that some of what I've been telling him has sunk in. He slowed down when approaching this spot and thank goodness he did. A driver coming on the other street flew right by us...I don't think they even saw us they were going so fast. I noticed when they got to the stop sign at the end of the merged street they barely even slowed down. I hope this demonstrates for him why I've been saying this.

So people won't think I'm playing favorites, here's Kitty White Shoes since I had Ping yesterday.

I thought I'd post this picture of #1 son (Alex) with one of our kitties, Ping. This picture was taken last fall so Ping has grown some since then but not too much and it's one of my favorite pictures of him. And I'll probably be talking about both the kids and the kitties so you'll be able to picture them when I'm posting about them. It will probably seem like I'm playing favorites with our cats since we have 2 and I'll mostly talk about Ping, but the other cat, Kitty White-Shoes, considers being held, talked to or petted as forms of cat torture. LOL!!!

Coralee asked about fingerprints in the dashboard...they're still there but I'm getting a little better. This might give you a better idea of some of our roads. This was taken on the way to school this morning. I took the picture, #2 son (Michael) was driving.

And this was taken on the way home. Yay! I lived to tell about it. Yes, that is the roof of a house on the right side of the picture. A rather big drop off and yes, there are guardrails but they end before the danger does!!

I hope I am doing this right. For a good time, visit Khristy's blog and Coralee's blog.

Here's a layout I did with Khristy's freebie "Astounding:. I saw the colors and I thought of this picture I've had of Alex at Universal Islands of Adventure.

I'm still learning all this linking and html stuff so bear with me. I'm hoping to learn it so I can say get Khristy's freebie here and have it take you to her blog. Even if you don't want the freebie, you should read her blog. It's lots of fun.

I'm hoping to make this one fun and informative too. Well...maybe not informative so much as fun. I have 2 sons and both are currently learning to drive. My hair is getting whiter every day. Why 2 at the same time? No, they're not twins, #1 son 17 and #2 is 15. #1 son wanted to drive right up until he turned 15 and realized how many teens killed themselves in cars. That was fine will nervous mama. Then he turned 16 and still not ready...finally when he was 17 I said it's time! By this time #2 son is 15 and wants his permit. Hence 2 driving with permits. I actually would rather take #2 son because he's not ashamed to drive 20 mph. I tell him to ignore the long line of cars following him. 20 mph is a nice speed! #1 son thinks he should drive the speed limit--gulp!! When you're with your father you can drive the speed limit. But mom, the limit is only 35 or 40. Only? Only?

The area where we live is full of narrow, windy roads with deep, deep drainage ditches on BOTH sides. You can't run off the road if something happens.

Well, that's enough for a first post. Don't want to drive everyone away. LOL!!! Sorry, couldn't resist.

I'm getting ready for a grand opening. Be back with a layout and some chatter! (Not too much--don't want to scare anyone off!)